Reader JamesFromMelbourne wanted to share his experiences with the movie, “Season of the Witch”. Directed by Dominic Sena and written by Bragi F. Schut. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham and Christopher Lee.
JamesFromMelbourne Writes:
Mead, crusades, violence, bawdy wenches, religion, epic battles, great humour, horror, human sacrifices, witchcraft, the occult and still 88 minutes to go OH YEAH!!!!
Too many films recently have fallen into the idea that the audience wants authentic films for entertainment and to be honest it’s become a bit dull. This film has a nice balance of fantasy and realism and with a cast that just works so well together, it really gives the film depth. Ron Perlman really has a lot of fun with the role and at Nicolas Cage’s expense on a few occasions, and here’s a question that doesn’t get asked a lot, can you have too much Ron Perlman? And the answer to that is HELL NO!
The support actors are fantastic too, there isn’t a weak link in the chain and they managed to do the film without a blonde bimbo… must be a foreign film.
As far as story goes there is some drama and character driven stuff, and that’s just fine, a bit more depth is always nice (did you hear that James Cameron? Don’t be afraid, jump on in, the water is fine) and it’s never at the expense of their demographic. The movie doesn’t really try to con the audience into the “is she/isn’t she” a witch usual drab garbage, instead it focuses on the human interaction of the characters with the girl and each other.
Ultimately a lot of what drives the character development is in the journey, so it becomes kind of like an escort mission (Josh will know what I’m talking about) except the escort keeps trying to get you killed… Oh no wait… It’s just like an escort mission.
Script is fun, feels authentic enough for the period, and gives you what you want to hear. “What do we do?” is a question asked in many films but the only real answer is “kill as many as you can!” Think of how many films would have been improved with that statement…. “Sex and the City”, “The Sound of Music”…….
Technically the fight scenes are made with someone who isn’t suffering from a caffeine high…they use a steady cam and punctuate important hits (occasionally) with slow mo. They also seem to be able to hold a shot for more than a fifth of a second. It’s a strange world where that is a celebratory comment.
Also don’t expect an “Avatar” standard of special effects, hell even “Avatar” didn’t have the “Avatar” level of special effects but that’s okay ’cause they bought a good script and good actors and that goes a loooooooooong way.
So that’s it, is it a ten?…. Yes it is, but only because in the land of turds, a Snickers bar is a refreshing change……and I like Snickers bars.
– JamesFromMelbourne
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